Our other Shaman guides take you from 10 to 60: the starter guide, Elemental, Enhancement leveling and Restoration dungeon healing. This one covers what comes after 60: which stats each Shaman spec should gear for, how the melee and spell hit caps work now that hit is one stat, why Intellect is a damage stat for Enhancement, and how to plan pre-raid gear before the first raids open.
Key dates (Blizzard): name reservation is open until Nov 3. Launch is Nov 4, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. PST. Barrow Deeps (10 players), Hyjal Summit (20) and Onyxia's Lair (40) open Dec 9.
Read this first: the beta stopped at level 30, so nobody has geared a level 60 Shaman in Forever yet. The stat weights below come from SixtySim, a community simulator running beta client data and marked "unverified until level 60 opens". Where Forever hasn't published a number (a boss's spell miss chance), it uses Classic's. Treat every number as a starting point.
What Forever changed about Shaman gear
From Blizzard's Deep Dive recap:
- Hit and crit are each one stat now. Melee, ranged and spell hit are combined, and so are the three kinds of crit. Blizzard names Enhancement Shaman as one of the hybrids this helps: one hit or crit item now counts for your weapon and your spells.
- Bonus healing also gives one third as much bonus damage, and a new stat lowers the chance to be dodged or parried (SixtySim calls it expertise).
- Every dungeon drop was re-examined, unique boss items are now blue (rare) quality, and set bonuses were improved.
From Blizzard's Mage & Shaman class deep dive, the parts that touch gear:
- Weapon imbues last 60 minutes and stack with stones and Wizard Oil, so an Enhancement two-hander carries an imbue and a stone.
- Windfury Totem is a party buff now, not a weapon enchant. You don't benefit from it if Windfury Weapon is on your own weapon, and it doesn't stack with Grace of Air or Flametongue Totem (no more totem twisting).
- Ancestral Knowledge raises Intellect instead of maximum mana. New Mental Dexterity turns Intellect into attack power and Mental Quickness turns it into spell damage and healing.
- Tidal Focus now also adds hit to all spells and attacks, so every spec has a talent source of hit.
Stat priorities by spec (level 60, simulated)
From SixtySim (updated Oct 28, pre-raid gear, beta data). Elemental is counted in points of spell damage, Enhancement in attack power, Restoration in healing power (each = 1.00). Hit, crit and casting/attack speed are per 1%, the rest per point.
| Spec | 1 boss, 1 minute | 1 boss, 3 minutes | Gear for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elemental | 1% hit 12.3, 1% casting speed 9.90, 1% crit 9.16, spell piercing 1.88, Nature dmg 0.68, Int 0.18 | 1% hit 11.9, 1% casting speed 9.74, 1% crit 9.32, spell piercing 1.90, Int 0.29 | Hit, then spell damage and crit. Mana stats only on long multi-boss fights |
| Enhancement | 1% crit 30.9, 1% attack speed 25.9, 1% spell hit 17.1, weapon DPS 13.2, expertise 3.42, Str 2.20, Int 1.98, Agi 1.70, spell dmg 1.40 | 1% crit 31.6, 1% attack speed 26.4, 1% spell hit 20.3, expertise 3.68, Int 2.42, Str 2.20, Agi 1.77 | Slow two-hander, crit, then Intellect and Strength. Melee hit only to 8% |
| Restoration | 1% casting speed 17.6, 1% crit 11.4, Int 2.61, MP5 2.38, Spirit 2.38 | 1% crit 16.2, MP5 2.68, Int 2.50, 1% casting speed 3.13, Spirit 0.89 | Healing power, then Intellect and MP5. Crit on long fights |
What stands out, per SixtySim:
- Elemental: hit leads on every fight, since you never reach the cap before raids. Elemental Fury makes crits deal 200%. Nature damage only reaches Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning, Fire damage only Flame Shock, Lava Burst, Fire Nova and totems, so school items are worth less than plain spell damage.
- Elemental on long packs runs out of mana: casting speed falls to 2.41, Intellect (1.04) and MP5 (1.37) climb.
- Enhancement: Intellect is a damage stat. Through Mental Dexterity, Mental Quickness and Ancestral Knowledge it gives attack power, spell damage, mana and crit. It sits just below Strength on one boss for one minute and above it on every other fight (3.08 against three bosses).
- Enhancement: Agility gives no attack power, only crit (about 1% per 20), so it sits below Strength.
- Enhancement: crit counts twice. Melee crit starts Flurry; spell crit lights Elemental Devastation (9% melee crit for 10 sec). An item's 1% crit is worth both weights: 30.9 + 11.5.
- Enhancement on packs: Fire Nova and Magma Totem hit all three bosses, so spell hit and spell damage roughly double.
- Restoration: gear for the length you raid. Casting speed tops one minute, but SixtySim calls that "mostly one Healing Wave": haste helps only with the mana to spend it. On two and three minutes crit leads, and Intellect and MP5 beat healing power.
Hit: two caps, one stat (partly unconfirmed)
- 8% hit: your weapon stops missing. Per SixtySim's beta logs, you miss a raid boss 8% of the time and each 1% gear hit takes off 1%. A two-hander has no dual-wield penalty, so 8% caps white swings, Stormstrike and Windfury Totem's attacks. Every Enhancement set reaches it (3% from Tidal Focus), so melee hit past 8% is worth nothing.
- 17% hit: your spells stop missing. That's Classic's spell miss chance against a level 63 boss; Forever hasn't published its spell table. SixtySim says Forever keeps no floor under it, so the cap is the full 17%.
- Elemental gets 5% from Tidal Focus and its pre-raid set shows 9.0%, well short of 17%. So hit never stops paying before raids.
- Enhancement: once your weapon is capped, extra hit still lands your shocks, Lightning Bolt and Fire Nova, so 1% hit is worth the spell hit weight (17.1 on one boss).
- Partial resists: SixtySim saw none on targets two levels up; nobody has logged three levels up yet.
Expertise (Enhancement): every 10 points cuts a boss's 6.5% dodge by 1%. From behind there's no parry or block, so dodge is all it trims. Adaptive Combat Assistant (trinket, Pix Xizzix in Stranglethorn Vale) gives 2% and is in every pre-raid set.
The Elements: the Shaman dungeon set
Forever reworked the bonuses on the eight-piece mail Shaman dungeon set. Per the beta client (builds 1.60.1.70532 and 70658), as listed on ForeverDB and ForeverDiff:
| Pieces | Bonus |
|---|---|
| 2 | +8 all resistances |
| 3 | Up to +18 spell damage and healing |
| 4 | When struck in melee, 5% chance to disarm the attacker for 4 sec (once every 60 sec) |
| 5 | Chance on melee autoattack and spellcast to gain up to +65 spell damage and healing for 10 sec |
| 6 | Restores 8 mana per 5 sec |
In Classic it was +200 armor (2), +23 spell damage and healing (4), a +95 proc on spellcast only (6) and +8 all resistances (8). The proc is smaller now but also triggers from melee swings.
Does it make the cut? Mostly no. SixtySim's Elemental set wears one piece, Vest of Elements (General Drakkisath, Upper Blackrock Spire), which carries 2 spell piercing; Fernpulse Jerkin (quest) is 3.3 DPS behind. No Enhancement or Restoration set wears any piece. Blizzard hasn't confirmed Forever's drop sources, so treat these as Classic-based.
Pre-raid planning, spec by spec
SixtySim builds each set from items whose Forever stats are published. wow4ever builds its own lists from items with a known source and a simple stat-weight rule ("not a simulator"), and says many numbers are still Classic ones until launch, so the two disagree in places.
Elemental (SixtySim):
- Staff: Ironbark Staff (88 spell damage, 2% crit), Exalted with your Arathi Basin faction (The Defilers or The League of Arathor). Start that reputation early. Alliance can also earn Crackling Staff (Stormpike Guard, Alterac Valley), within a few DPS.
- Relic: Totem of the Storm (BoE world drop, up to +33 to Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning). On longer packs, Burning Totem (Pix Xizzix) adds 3 sec to Flame Shock.
- Crafts: Blue Dragonscale Helm and Ironfeather Leggings (Leatherworking, every set; skipping the legs costs 11.2 DPS), Belt of the Archmage (Tailoring), Mantle of the Timbermaw.
- Pix Xizzix sells Arcanoweave Cloak and Blessed Band of Light (1% hit each) and Weakness Analyzer.
- Also: Chains of the Lich (Balzaphon, Stratholme), Greaves of Withering Despair (1% hit, Blackrock Depths), Vest of Elements and Talisman of Ascendance (Eastern Plaguelands quest).
Enhancement (SixtySim):
- Weapon: The Unstoppable Force (3.6-speed two-handed mace, 2% crit) on every one-boss set. SixtySim lists it only as a vendor reward with no vendor named yet.
- Manual Crowd Pummeler for the pull (50% attack speed for 30 sec), then swap back. Imbue and stone it too.
- Trinkets: Gnomish Battle Chicken (Gnomish Engineering; 5% melee speed for 4 min; the next trinket is 16.7 DPS behind) plus Adaptive Combat Assistant.
- Caster pieces on a melee (Belt of the Archmage, Arcanoweave Cloak, Mantle of the Timbermaw): your Intellect becomes attack power.
- Also: Black Dragonscale Helm (Leatherworking), Raider Gloves (Darkspear Raiders Exalted), the Warsong Gulch mail legs (Outrider's / Sentinel's Chain Leggings), Greaves of Withering Despair and Ferocious Watcher's Signet.
Restoration (SixtySim):
- Staff: Glowing Brightwood Staff (BoE world drop; 150 healing, 50 spell damage, 29 Intellect). The next staff, Ironbark, costs 78.1 HPS. Buy it early.
- Leatherworking (bind on equip): Living Crown, Ironfeather Leggings, Hide of the Wild (next cloak costs 15.1 HPS), Red Dragonscale Breastplate.
- Trinkets: Talisman of Ascendance and Serenity Field (Pix Xizzix) on every fight.
- Also: Chains of the Lich, Mooncloth Shoulders (Tailoring), Vigilant Watcher's Signet (The Watchers) and Blessed Band of Light.
wow4ever's lists are different: mail only, more dungeon drops, no vendor or reputation items. Elemental: Blue Dragonscale pieces, Briarwood Reed, Burst of Knowledge. Enhancement: Treant's Bane (Dire Maul North tribute), Crown of Tyranny, Bloodmail Gauntlets and Boots. Restoration: Warcrest of the Great Chief, Harmonious Gauntlets, Second Wind. Its Elemental and Resto lists also hold level 30 quest fist weapons from "The Tempest's Weapons" (Lightning's Grasp, Tidebringer's Claw); we couldn't verify why. Both sites agree on Hide of the Wild and Leatherworking as the big pre-raid profession.
Enchants (SixtySim):
- Elemental: Spellblasting (65 spell damage, Merchant's Favor formula) on the staff, Arcanum of Focus on head and legs, Natural Power (20 Nature damage) on gloves, Mystic Rugged Armor Kit (6 spell damage) on chest and boots, Greater Spellpower on bracers, Spell Power on the neck.
- Enhancement: Spellblasting on the two-hander (rated above Crusader), Arcanum of Rapidity on head and legs, Greater Stats (chest), Greater Spellpower (bracers), Minor Haste (gloves), Agility (cloak), Greater Agility (boots), Strength on the neck (Spell Power vs three bosses).
- Restoration: Mighty Healing Power (100 healing) on the staff, Arcanum of Focus on head and legs, Healing Power on neck and bracers, Mystic Rugged Armor Kit on chest, gloves and boots.
Consumables (SixtySim, worth on one boss for one minute):
- Elemental: Flask of Supreme Power 13.0%, Brilliant Wizard Oil 3.9% (you use no imbue), Greater Arcane Elixir 3.0%, Lobster Stew 2.4%, Elixir of Nature Power 2.3% (Merchant's Favor recipe). Mana potion and Demonic Rune matter on two-minute-plus fights.
- Enhancement: Flask of Supreme Power 4.7%, Elixir of the Mongoose 2.9%, Dragonbreath Chili 2.1% (5.5% vs three bosses), Goblin Sapper Charge 1.6% (Engineering), Juju Power 1.5%, R.O.I.D.S. 1.3%, Dense Sharpening Stone next to Rockbiter 1.0%.
- Restoration: mana first. Flask of Distilled Wisdom 15.5%, Major Mana Potion 15.2%, Demonic Rune 11.4%, then Cerebral Cortex Compound 4.0%, Runn Tum Tuber Surprise 3.9%, Mageblood Elixir 3.8%, Brilliant Wizard Oil 1.9%.
Remember the catch: per Blizzard's interviews (as reported by WoW Classic Forever), there's no Dungeon Journal, and you can't see an item's stats until it has dropped for you or on your server. Use these lists to plan where to go, not as a final shopping list.
Where to farm at 55–60
Blizzard's new endgame dungeons are Blackmaw Hold (55–60) and Shaper's Terrace (58–60), and Icy Veins still lists their loot as "Coming Soon". The Classic endgame dungeons are also in Forever: Blackrock Depths, Lower and Upper Blackrock Spire, Dire Maul, Scholomance and Stratholme (Icy Veins dungeon overview). For Shamans, Blackrock Depths, Stratholme and Upper Blackrock Spire show up most. Many of SixtySim's picks are crafted or sold, so gold, Leatherworking and reputation get you further than dungeon luck.
Side note: where Shamans rank
On SixtySim's Oct 28 rankings (pre-raid, one boss, one minute), Enhancement is #14 of 25 damage specs (897.4 DPS) and Elemental #24 (682.7), with Restoration #1 of 5 single-target healers (1,425.4 HPS). On packs it changes: against three bosses for one minute Enhancement is #7 and Elemental #11. Builds: Elemental 31/11/9, Enhancement 17/31/3, Restoration 0/11/40. Simulated on beta data: a curiosity until real logs exist.
Still unclear
- Forever's spell table. The 17% spell cap is Classic's; the 8% melee cap comes from beta logs.
- Resto's real Spirit regen (SixtySim borrows the rate from a Forever Warlock's Spirit tooltip).
- Where The Unstoppable Force is sold, and what the level 30 quest fist weapons on wow4ever's lists really carry.
- Real item stats and drop sources, especially from the new dungeons, and where The Elements pieces drop.
Sources
- Blizzard: Deep Dive panel recap (combined hit and crit, Enhancement Shaman, dodge/parry stat, caster weapons, set bonuses), Mage & Shaman class deep dive (imbues with stones and oils, Windfury Totem, Mental Dexterity, Tidal Focus), name reservation, pre-purchase and launch (Nov 4), raid overview (Dec 9)
- SixtySim stat weights (updated Oct 28): Elemental, Enhancement, Restoration
- SixtySim pre-raid gear, enchants and consumables: Elemental, Enhancement, Restoration; rankings
- wow4ever pre-raid lists: Elemental, Enhancement, Restoration
- The Elements set bonuses: ForeverDB, ForeverDiff
- WoW Classic Forever: dungeons (no Dungeon Journal, item stats hidden until they drop)
Fan community guide by Systematic. World of Warcraft © Blizzard Entertainment; we're not affiliated with Blizzard.
Images: header and gearing cheat-sheet by Systematic, using the Systematic wallpaper and brand colours. Ability and item icons on the card © Blizzard Entertainment via Wowhead (Classic icons used as stand-ins; Forever's may differ). Stat weights on the card from SixtySim; set bonuses from ForeverDB/ForeverDiff.
